Friends to the end: Even if I am a variable
by Wolfs-bats-and stories-oh my
Summary: Who knew Watari Yutaka and Rojuro Otoribashi were close friends? I totally knew. This is not a Yaoi or Hoyay, but it does feature a certain gender-bending potion.
1. I

**_Yo, the name is Batty. What goes on? Wolfie's computer is still down, so I'm still uploading _**_**like mad. Lol. This story is the product of spontaneity, the lust for writing something and watching ****Descendants of Darkness like a lunatic. Written by Batty, enjoyed by you, the public. Fun fact plus spoiler: The girl Rojuro turns into is actually me, Batty. I thought that would be creative and funny.**_

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Rojuro Otoribashi lounged on a rock that seemed to be eroded down just to his standards. He lovingly tuned his guitar and gazed over the desert landscape. He had no reading material, since Love always adopted it for his own uses rather than the buyer get full satisfaction. Love was definately an alternate definition to 'buyer's remorse'. Rojuro had yet to read his new copy of ShonenJump due to that reason. Luckily, Love nor any other individual could torment him right now. He had excused himself last weekend that today he was going to be leaving for a short while. He traveled into the middle of the back desert, an area where hardly anyone ever visited. He figured it would be the idealistic place for meeting up with someone. It had almost been eleven years since he had actually confronted Watari Yutaka in person, but only last week through written word. Watari had wrote him a letter requesting that they meet up. If Rojuro's intuition was correct, Watari seemed even more excited than his natural cheerful demeanor could handle. He couldn't pass down a chance to catch up with an old friend, especially someone like Yutaka. They had been caught up in their own lives for quite some time, Watari especially taking advantage of all his time to invent new contraptions. Rojuro understood that, because fighting arrancars could totally excuse anything these days. He made a lazy smile at the thought of the reunion and tried a tune on his guitar. His brows quickly contorted into a disgusted expression.  
_What in the world was that? _Rojuro thought. He had never rehearsed anything so horrid in his life.  
"Well that's a first," a voice critiqued out of nowhere.  
Comparing only to the speed of lightning, Rojuro switched his hand's disposition from his beloved guitar to his Zanpaktou, Kinshara. He jumped from the rock and in the direction of the voice. Surprisingly, the blade of Kinshara came mere inches from Watari's throat. His arms were held up like he was the victim of a robbery. In one hand he clutched a basket of beverages and snacks tighter, while the other hand was as straight as his arms. His black coat fluttered in the breeze and his orange shirt began to stick from forming beads of sweat. His eyes were widened and his glasses reflected hidden fear as he managed a subdued grin.  
"I can see Kinshara is doing well."  
He closed his eyes in desperation that Rojuro would recognize him. At the sight of his friend, Rojuro's face went from unimpressed to meager relief.  
"Geez, Watari, you scared the piss out of me."  
He sheathed Kinshara and tested a smile. Watari crossed his arms and resumed his bubbly personality. He lunged for a hug. Rojuro caught him out of an expected surprise. Both withdrew and Watari adjusted his glasses.  
"Did I, now? That song you were playing scared the piss out of me. Although it's been a long time since I last heard you play the guitar, but I strictly remember you being good at it, Rose."  
He winked. Rojuro lifted an eyebrow and lightened his smile. He seemed to find traces of the agitation that he tried to escape.  
"I was actually practicing a song I wrote for you."  
Watari scratched his head and chuckled.  
"My, my if that song is meant for me, than I don't feel like a friend at all."  
This tugged at Rojuro's gleeful sentiment.  
"You should know better, Wat, I'm the best there is."  
Watari laughed a little, "Of course, Rose, I wouldn't want anyone to write me a song other than you."  
Rojuro adjusted his gaze from his friend to what he was carrying.  
"Seems I wasn't the only one who concocted a present. What's that?"  
He nodded at the basket. Watari tightened his orange cloth that constricted his blonde hair in a ponytail.  
"Hm? Oh, you finally noticed. You didn't expect someone like Watari Yutaka to come unprepared for a reunion with a friend."  
Rojuro tightened his lips and lifted his eyebrows.  
"That really did not answer my question,-"  
Watari interrupted, "Of course it didn't, that's why you'll figure it out later."  
He laughed to his own joke as Rojuro looked to his side at his dropped guitar.  
"Well, we got all day before we head back to my place. We might as well do all of our talking here," he gave a thumb in the backwards direction over his shoulder ", because once you arrive, you will be interrogated up to your well-conditioned head on any and everything."  
Watari laughed. "You know I'm a scientist, Rose! I love questions and the answers that follow. Isn't that why you called me 'Wat' in the first place ?"  
He smiled and revealed a red and white checker board tablecloth from the basket, the kind usually seen at picnics. As he set his basket aside and began to set up the cloth, Rojuro thought about what Watari said. It was true, Rojuro began to reconcile. Rojuro started using it as a stub of his real name, but changed the pronunciation as 'What' to make it seem like the interrogative word. He found it very suiting for him. On the other hand, 'Rose' had always been his nickname, due to it sounding similar to the flower's name and because he was a little effeminate. He took up his guitar and sat across from Watari. He immediately began tuning it as Watari uncovered different confections, plates and bottles. He set them elegantly across the cloth and adorned each plate with a luxury napkin. It seemed as if he was setting up a picnic for a god rather than for two friends. He finally looked up at Rojuro and seemed shocked, as if he had just walked up.  
"How rude of me, I'm sorry. Why don't you play me that song you've been practicing so much on?"  
Rojuro blinked in expression that read _What are you talking about, Wat? _but then realized that was cue for him to express his talent. He struck a single note on his guitar and was satisfied he finally found the right tone. He held his guitar close and shut his eyes, thus playing the first note to the song dedicated to his friend. It was slow with a gothic rhythm, almost like the beat of a heart. It had an enigmatic atmosphere, but begin to have a quicker tempo after a few minutes. That gave the entire song the impression of meaning to be happy. While Rojuro was playing, Watari listened while preoccupying himself with the etiquette of the picnic. His last preparation being pouring his friend a glass of a light, bubbly liquid from a dimmed bottle. He kindly set the glass next to Rojuro. He glanced at his friend, who was too deep into concentration to notice his beverage. Watari poured himself a drink out of a different bottle. He sipped casually and laid his glass next to the basket. He placed his thumb and index finger on his chin in a pondering gesture and smiled as Rojuro played on. It took a few minutes before the completion of the entrancing song, but Watari would have waited until the end of time for the end. Rojuro finally opened his eyes and stared lazily at his friend. Watari gave a mini clapping session and shed his long black coat.  
"That song was for me?" He asked with pleasure.  
Rojuro nodded and set his guitar gently aside.  
"It made me want to touch myself." Watari commented.  
Rojuro's eyes widened in discomfort at the thought and he looked aside.  
"I see your sense of humor is still just as varied." Rojuro pointed out.  
Watari laughed.  
"Well, Rose, it may have been eleven years since our last meeting, but we haven't changed THAT much. By they way, what do you call my little song?"  
Rojuro looked at the sky. " I call it 'The Song of the Owl'."  
Watari added satisfaction into his mood. Rojuro knew that Watari had an affection for birds, and he remembered in one of he letters he received that Watari had obtained an owlet that he named 003 or something like that. He wondered where the little creature was, but set the thought aside when he noticed a drink in front of him.  
"Oh, why thank you Watari."  
He lifted the glass up and inspected the aroma. It scent was either of fruit or flowers. He couldn't be sure.  
"It smells lovely."  
Watari gleamed. "Taste it."  
Rojuro lifted his hand in a appreciative gesture. "Not at the moment, Wat, I'm not thirsty."  
Watari's smile seemed to dissipate in a slow fashion. " Oh, okay then."  
He seemed disappointed by this, but returned to his happiness even quicker. He reached over to the basket and pulled out a CD case. He proffered it over to Rojuro.  
"For you, Rose."  
Rojuro lifted his eyebrows again and questioningly stole the CD. His face showed signs of excitement and astonishment.  
"The new Prince of Darkness album?! Oh wow, Wat, thanks!"  
He opened his arms in a hugging statement and Watari calmly made his way over to hug him.  
"Oh, it isn't nothing. I know you have always been a fan of these guys, they simply aren't my cup of tea."  
He smiled at his joke, giving a slight pun to his love of tea. He settled in his original spot and watched as his friend examined his present. Rojuro finally took his attention from the CD's back cover. "Sorry, that I only gave you one present. You set us up a picnic and then this, I'm-,"  
Watari lifted his hand in a stopping motion. "You actually wanting to meet up with me is considered a present."  
Rojuro smiled. Watari's logic always seemed to get the best of him, even when they were younger. He always had a respect for it, that was one reason they were such good friends. Rojuro scratched under the collar of his black over shirt.  
"So, Watari, please tell me more about what you have been doing. Our friendship isn't demanding enough to maintain constant attention."  
Watari laughed and sipped some more of his beverage. "But it is good enough to have survived for eleven years without seeing one another."  
He refilled his glass and set it back down.  
"I have been busying myself with my job,-"  
Rojuro interrupted as he eyed a small cake hungrily. "Remind me again what that is, you're in the Research and Development department of The ministry of Hades, right?"  
Watari nodded and passed the cake to Rojuro.  
"Yes, that's right. I'm the qualified mechanist, computer repairer and scientist. Many cases as well as many inventions have been spoiling my time rotten."  
Watari finished his sentence and widened his eyes. He noticed his friend reach for his drink, but he stopped to take the plate from Watari.  
_Damnit, _thought Watari.  
He adjusted his glasses. Rojuro cut a sliver of cake and set it on his plate. He turned a gaze to his friend as he applied to the cake pressure with his fork. He noticed Watari staring at him. Rojuro felt a microscopic bit of awkwardness.  
"And why don't you tell me some of them, Wat. It has been eleven years since we actually talked in person. You normally wouldn't just shut up, even the letters tell that." Watari blinked at Rojuro's joke, instead of expressing some sort of jest.  
"Talking about one who hasn't changed much, your tongue is still as sharp as your Kinshara. I didn't know if you had any more questions."  
Rojuro chewed his cake thoroughly as he watched Watari.  
"You look like you've been doing well yourself, Rose, why don't you tell me everything about you. I'm sure you don't want to hear about boring ol' me, now, do you?"  
Rojuro swallowed his cake.  
"That's why I came out here, isn't it? I really would like to hear in detail your recent projects, Wat."  
Watari smiled. "Hm, Apart from some miniscule trinkets and the occasional Rube Goldberg machine, I've been testing some new potions, alot of,-"  
Again, Rojuro interrupted him as he picked his glass up. "Oh yeah, the sex changing potion, how is that coming along?"  
He raised the rim of the glass to his lips and the liquid snaked close.  
Watari smiled and put his coat back on. _We're about to find out,_ he thought_._


	2. II

Rojuro tilted his head back and sampled the liquid entrance to his throat. He immediately withdrew and licked his lips.  
"Wow, Wat! This stuff is marvelous!"  
Watari brightened his beam, and grabbed the bottle which Rojuro's drink was housed. Rojuro drank some more.  
"It tastes like pomegranates."  
He exclaimed in a splendor voice. Watari shrugged and displayed the bottle.  
"I know you like pomegranates, so I added some of the extract for, you know, that 'fruity' flavoring."  
Rojuro suddenly found Watari's cheesy witticism something to laugh at. Unusual though, he never really took account for his attempts. He laughed giddily. Rojuro looked down at his glass, which he found empty. He looked up at Watari, who although a short distance away, seemed blurry. Now that he noticed it, anything in a decent measure away seemed fuzzy, although Rojuro was known for good vision. He closed his eyes tightly and reopened them. His vision was still distorted.  
"Watari, is this drink alcoholic?"  
Watari laughed. "No, Rose, it isn't."  
Rojuro breathed in deeply. Maybe it was the heat getting to him. After all, the desert was known to corrupt one's vision. He returned his gaze at his friend, who seemed overly excited about him finishing his drink. Rojuro snickered a little.  
"You okay, Wat?"  
He blinked. Maybe his voice had cracked, but his voice seemed to have taken a higher pitch. He cleared his throat.  
"Oh, just fine, Rose. What could possibly be the matter with me?"  
Rojuro shrugged and looked around. Was it him, or did it seem like his chest was heavier? Like there was a soft weight on it. He felt around in the pressurized area. He felt two distinct, but squishy lumps. Out of concealed horror, Rojuro investigated the mysterious bulges. He checked inside of his shirt. They were breasts. but not of his own. They were of a woman's. Rojuro yelped a little, and jumped back a little, up heaving the cloth a little bit. Watari watched as if nothing was phasing his friend.  
"Wa-, Watari?"  
He lifted his eyebrows and hummed a response.  
"Do you, n-notice anything different? About me?"  
It was confirmed that his voice had not cracked. Watari had set a curled index finger to his lips, "The purple bangs are a surprise, but I don't think it is anything harmful."  
Rojuro gripped his hair and examined it. Other than his presumptions of turning into a woman, the only thing scarier was something wrong with his hair. The long front bangs of his once golden hair were of a violet pigment.  
"Pur-Purple Bangs?!? What the hell are you talking about Watari?"  
"The side effects of course." He maintained his smile.  
Rojuro was maintaining all his energy, so as to not pass out.  
"Do you _feel _different?"  
Watari asked with a hint of jolted forth and grabbed his friend by the collar of his coat.  
"First my vision goes hazy, then I grow breasts, and my hair turns purple and you ask if I FEEL ANY DIFFERENT?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Rojuro yelled.  
Watari simply set his glasses over Rojuro's eyes.  
"Well, if you can't see very well, try my glasses."  
Amazingly, Rojuro's vision cleared. Watari smiled.  
"Congratulations, Rose, you are the first candidate, as a human, to test my gender-bending potion, and actually prove successful results! Oh Happy day!"  
Rojuro flung him back onto the desert sand and paced around. Watari watched with interest as Rojuro's now feminine walk graced the picnic area Watari was cleaning up. Rojuro stopped after a few minutes of aggravated striving. Watari looked up.  
"You know, Watari, I'm glad I can see lucidly now,"  
Rojuro unsheathed Kinshara and lightly poked the blade directly into Watari's heart.  
",because now I can watch you die with perfect vision."  
Watari's cheerful behavior disappeared. It was replaced with despair.  
"At least you are still alive, Rojuro. I didn't do anything to kill you. You know I wouldn't do that to my friends."  
Rojuro seemed to take his remark into mind, and slowly moved the blade aside.  
"Friends are to be treated as friends, not as a variable in some sort of sick experiment."  
Watari seemed hurt by this.  
"I-, I'm sorry, Rose. I sort of thought it would be an honor, to be a test subject in the research that I hold dearest to my heart, and even more if it succeeded. If it didn't, I was going to tell you anyway, and we could laugh it off while playing chess or something."  
Rojuro loosened his grip on Kinshara. Watari looked at the ground.  
"Everyone back at the Bureau laughs at me. They think that I won't achieve my goal of an effective sex-changing potion. What's more they sometimes even mock my simple inventions."  
Rojuro detected sadness in Watari's recounting.  
"I only want a friend that appreciates and understands what I am doing," he sighed heavily.  
It may have been the new girly senses Rojuro acquired that was tricking him, but he may have heard sniffling.  
", I guess you aren't going to be one of those friends either."  
Rojuro breathed a bit of consideration. Kinshara withdrew and was sheathed. Watari kneeled on the ground, daring not to look at his friend. Rojuro placidly walked over to him, and bent down next to him.  
"Watari, it isn't the fact you did this to me. It is the fact you didn't tell me _what _you were doing. The surprise is what upset me, not what your goal ."  
Watari wiped his nose and looked at Rojuro. "Are you sure this isn't the girl's sensitivity kicking in?"  
Rojuro chuckled. "No, Watari, I may be a girl on the outside, but I'm still the same old manly Rojuro on the inside." Upon saying this, Rojuro flexed his arm muscle and kissed it. Watari laughed.  
"But maybe the girlish instincts are helping too now that you mention it." Rojuro ruffled Watari's hair.  
Rojuro stood and gripped his Zanpaktou's handle and sighed.  
"So, how long am I going to be like this?"  
Watari placed a curious thumb on his chin.  
"Hmmm, well I've only tested a mere three ounces on my lab birds and that lasts for a week, and you've drank a half glass' worth which is equivalent to a quarter of a full cup, so…,"  
"I'm going to be stuck as a girl for two whole weeks?" Watari smiled. "I guess you are. You won't mind if I study you for the time being? I mean, this was the whole point of the experiment, is to study the female in general."  
Rojuro blinked and controlled the building anger.  
"As long as we don't have sex, play with the fundamentals of love-making or use me as an advantage, sure. Study away."  
Rojuro was wondering how in the world this could be explained to the other Vizards. The situation begin to unfold in his mind like a picture book.

_Rojuro and Watari walk into the Vizard's place. Everyone questioningly looks at the two guests as Watari bouncily states, "Hello, you may not know me, but I'm Rojuro's boyfriend for the time being." _

_  
_The grip that was being placed on Kinshara was almost overbearing. Rojuro's whole arm began to turn red, but the mortifying pressure was reduced when Watari asked, "Could we play a game of chess, Rose. You know, like we used to? I brought my own travel set."  
Rojuro managed a small smile and agreed. "If I can still be black."  
His friend amusingly stated, "I had a feeling you were going to say that. But you are a girl, isn't black _icky_?"  
They began walking away. Rojuro playfully nudged Watari.  
"I've always worn all black. Just because I'm a girl now, doesn't mean I'm going to dress any different."  
Watari nudged Rojuro back.  
"Well, excuse me, Ms. Otoribashi."  
Rojuro placed feminesque hands in his pockets.  
"For your information, I'm not completely out of my 'I want to kill you' mood."  
Watari set his own hands in his pockets.  
"You know, for a girl, you act very _Batty." _


End file.
